The present invention relates in general to umbrellas for providing protection from the elements. More specifically, the invention is directed to one or more sun shades which vertically deploy from an umbrella in order to selectively create shade for one or more users of the umbrella.
Umbrellas and similar protective coverings are commonly used at beaches, on patios, and in other settings in order to block sunlight or light emitted from another source in order to improve the comfort of one or more users of the umbrella. Such umbrellas provide diminishing utility to their users, however, if the sun or other light source changes its position relative to the placement of the umbrella, such that the light rays emitted therefrom are not satisfactorily blocked by the umbrella. Further, there also arises a similar problem with rain or other weather conditions, whereby changing weather conditions diminish the utility of the umbrella in a similar manner.
While tilting or otherwise changing the position of the umbrella might improve the comfort of some users of the umbrella, there arises the problem that this tilting or change of position negatively affects the comfort of other users of the umbrella. In other words, while it may be possible to reposition the umbrella to place one user in the shade, the relocation similarly places another in the sun. U.S. Pat. No. 6,328,047, for example, discloses a position adjustment member for an umbrella. The adjustment member allows the umbrella to tilt and rotate to a number of different positions. The position adjustment member, however, succumbs to the problem outlined above.
In view of the above, it would be desirable to provide an umbrella which features a mechanism for selectively providing shade for one or more users of an umbrella, that improves the comfort of one or more users of the umbrella without affecting the comfort of other users of the umbrella.